occupation · 51-4121 · detailed
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers — wages and employment
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers earned a median annual wage of $51,000 in the United States in May 2024, with 424,040 people employed, according to the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
What stands out
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers earned a median annual wage of $51,000 in the United States in May 2024, with 424,040 people employed, according to the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The lowest-paid tenth earned $38,130 or less, the best-paid tenth $75,850 or more. Since May 2023 the median moved from $48,940 to $51,000, +4.2 %. The best-paying state is Hawaii at $76,970; the lowest Puerto Rico at $29,020. Among metropolitan areas, Fairbanks-College, AK pays the highest median, $83,400. Wages are as published by BLS for May of each year; '≥ $239,200' is BLS's top code. Every value links to its fact record.
United States, year by year
Annual wages at the median, mean and four percentiles; employment is the May estimate.
| Reference | Employment | Median | Mean | 10th | 25th | 75th | 90th | Median hourly | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2024 | 424,040 | $51,000 | $55,100 | $38,130 | $45,580 | $61,610 | $75,850 | $24.52 | evidence → |
| May 2023 | 421,730 | $48,940 | $52,640 | $36,830 | $42,760 | $59,900 | $72,970 | $23.53 | evidence → |
By state
Median annual wage, May 2024, highest first. Each state has its own record with the full series.
| State | Median annual | Employment |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | $76,970 | 570 |
| Alaska | $75,140 | 650 |
| Wyoming | $66,070 | 1,900 |
| Connecticut | $64,520 | 2,030 |
| Washington | $61,730 | 7,680 |
| Massachusetts | $61,710 | 3,080 |
| North Dakota | $60,270 | 2,720 |
| Louisiana | $59,860 | 12,360 |
| New Jersey | $59,630 | 3,300 |
| Nevada | $59,370 | 2,080 |
| Minnesota | $58,730 | 9,420 |
| District of Columbia | $58,700 | 330 |
| Oregon | $58,590 | 4,870 |
| Maine | $58,340 | 1,950 |
| California | $57,940 | 26,100 |
| New Hampshire | $57,700 | 1,040 |
| Vermont | $57,520 | 340 |
| Virginia | $57,350 | 10,690 |
| New York | $57,230 | 7,810 |
| Colorado | $57,200 | 4,470 |
| Rhode Island | $57,000 | 2,350 |
| Delaware | $56,510 | 510 |
| Maryland | $56,420 | 3,190 |
| Utah | $56,050 | 4,230 |
| Wisconsin | $55,630 | 16,820 |
| Arizona | $53,770 | 7,630 |
| New Mexico | $52,460 | 2,350 |
| Montana | $51,280 | 1,340 |
| Pennsylvania | $50,860 | 16,060 |
| Nebraska | $50,550 | 3,990 |
| Virgin Islands | $50,540 | 70 |
| North Carolina | $49,860 | 12,020 |
| Texas | $49,830 | 56,650 |
| Illinois | $49,730 | 17,340 |
| Mississippi | $49,490 | 6,570 |
| Missouri | $49,460 | 10,270 |
| Iowa | $49,450 | 9,250 |
| Florida | $49,430 | 16,390 |
| Ohio | $49,410 | 20,110 |
| Kentucky | $49,260 | 7,360 |
| Idaho | $49,190 | 3,300 |
| South Carolina | $49,120 | 7,600 |
| Kansas | $49,040 | 6,310 |
| Michigan | $48,930 | 13,640 |
| Oklahoma | $48,490 | 9,780 |
| Indiana | $48,460 | 13,260 |
| South Dakota | $48,340 | 3,480 |
| Georgia | $48,000 | 14,030 |
| Tennessee | $47,280 | 12,610 |
| Alabama | $47,170 | 12,570 |
| Arkansas | $47,100 | 7,240 |
| West Virginia | $47,000 | 2,280 |
| Guam | $39,950 | 330 |
| Puerto Rico | $29,020 | 1,600 |
Highest-paying metropolitan areas
Top 20 by median annual wage.
| Metro area | Median annual | Employment |
|---|---|---|
| Fairbanks-College, AK | $83,400 | 80 |
| Lima, OH | $83,100 | 400 |
| Urban Honolulu, HI | $77,350 | 470 |
| Baton Rouge, LA | $75,670 | 3,910 |
| Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA | $69,140 | 770 |
| Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT | $69,120 | 700 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $67,560 | 1,160 |
| Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT | $65,510 | 320 |
| Kahului-Wailuku, HI | $65,170 | 50 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $64,510 | 3,270 |
| Portland-South Portland, ME | $64,330 | 1,070 |
| Anchorage, AK | $64,150 | 210 |
| St. Joseph, MO-KS | $63,990 | 560 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $63,890 | 1,940 |
| Lake Charles, LA | $63,760 | 900 |
| Kennewick-Richland, WA | $63,370 | 230 |
| Boulder, CO | $63,220 | 250 |
| Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ | $62,900 | 90 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | $62,800 | 2,730 |
| Vallejo, CA | $62,720 | 320 |
Machine access — free, no API key
Every figure shown here about Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers — wages and employment can also be queried live: FACTANKER runs an MCP server at https://factanker.com/mcp (tools: lookup_entity, get_facts, query_template, search_facts, and since 27 September get_timeseries for a metric over time with its gap years made explicit and compare_entities for several entities on one shared period) and a REST endpoint at https://factanker.com/api/get_facts. Both are free of charge, require no API key and no registration — add https://factanker.com/mcp as a connector in Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot. Every answer carries its source document and a citation reference. Setup: /quickstart.
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